New year Blues

Martin's back with some fascinating stats...

Every week on skysports.com he answers your questions and offers you statistical gems from what he's seen as he tours the world commentating for Sky Sports.

Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts want your queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game.

Dzeko (l): scored two in five minutes against Norwich

So if you have spotted something from a matche or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply email skysportsclub@bskyb.com and he will do his best to help.

Tyler's teaser

But as usual we'll kick off with a question for YOU. Click play to see this week's Tyler's Teaser.

Martin's Starting Stat

I was at St Mary's on New Year's Day to see Southampton's draw with Arsenal. The Saints have now only lost twice in their last 10 games, both 1-0, and they have drawn three in a row.

The game was played on Steven Davis' 28th birthday, while Arsenal's Jack Wilshere played on his 21st birthday. As for Guly do Prado, he scored an own goal on the day after his 31st birthday. He hasn't scored for Southampton in his last 31 appearances since January at Nottingham Forest. His team are unbeaten in the 19 games when he has scored - and now also the one when he's scored an own goal!

The game also marked the first return to Southampton for both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott; the latter almost seven years to the day since he left. They remain the two youngest players to have played for Southampton; Walcott at 16 years, 143 days (v Wolves in August 2005) and Oxlade-Chamberlain at 16 years, 199 days (v Huddersfield in March 2010).

THE TABLE OF 2012Dear Martin. As a Liverpool fan, I'm glad to see the back of 2012, which has not been a good year for us. Can you tell me where would we be in the Premier League table if only games in the calendar year 2012 were included? I fear we'd be in the relegation zone. Keep up the good work, Gaz (Liverpool fan)

MARTIN SAYS: We have detailed the Premier League table for 2012 below, but because some teams have played more than others (particularly the promoted and relegated teams who've only played half a season), we've adjusted the points tallies to show points-per-game as this gives a better indication of how each team performed in 2012.

As you can see, Liverpool would be down in 16th in our 23-team league, having picked up just 46 points from their 39 games. Manchester United would be comfortably top, ahead of Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal, while Wolves, Reading and QPR had the worst records.

Other points to note from 2012:

MOST GOALS: Manchester United (90)MOST WINS: Manchester United (30)MOST DRAWS: Stoke (18)MOST DEFEATS: QPR (23)BEST GOAL DIFFERENCE: Manchester United (+46)WORST GOAL DIFFERENCE: Aston Villa (-38)TOTAL GOALS: 1100 (a new annual Premier League record with 20 teams - which has been entertaining to commentate on, but the lack of defensive work has been driving Gary Neville mad!)

Premier League table for calendar year 2012 (points per game):

P

W

D

L

F

A

GD

Pts

Pts/Game

1. Man Utd

39

30

3

6

90

44

+46

93

2.38

2. Man City

40

26

8

6

78

33

+45

86

2.15

3. Chelsea

38

19

11

8

67

40

+27

68

1.80

4. Arsenal

38

19

10

9

78

44

+34

67

1.76

5. Everton

41

17

17

7

65

45

+20

68

1.66

6. Tottenham

40

19

9

12

67

47

+20

66

1.65

7. West Brom

40

17

7

16

54

51

+3

58

1.45

8. Swansea

39

15

10

14

55

52

+3

55

1.41

9. Newcastle

39

16

7

16

56

63

-7

55

1.41

10. Fulham

39

15

8

16

58

62

-4

53

1.36

11. Norwich

39

13

11

15

47

64

-17

50

1.28

12. Stoke

39

10

18

11

37

40

-3

48

1.23

13. Sunderland

40

12

13

15

44

50

-6

49

1.23

14. West Ham

19

6

5

8

22

23

-1

23

1.21

15. Bolton

19

6

5

8

23

35

-12

23

1.21

16. Liverpool

39

12

10

17

54

51

3

46

1.18

17. Wigan

39

13

7

19

47

60

-13

46

1.18

18. Southampton

19

4

5

10

26

37

-11

17

0.89

19. Blackburn

19

5

2

12

20

37

-17

17

0.89

20. Aston Villa

39

6

15

18

30

68

-38

33

0.84

21. QPR

39

7

9

23

41

69

-28

30

0.77

22. Reading

20

2

7

11

22

37

-15

13

0.65

23. Wolves

19

1

5

13

19

48

-29

8

0.42

A LEAKY VILLAMr Tyler. After having just witnessed Aston Villa ship their 15th goal in a particularly miserable festive week... I would like to know "IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE ERA" what is the record for the most consecutive goals conceded without reply. Since Steven Gerrard's goal in the 3-1 drubbing we handed to them up at Anfield, we are now up to 16 and counting without scoring! I hope we are not the current record holders and hope we can end our bid to become them on New Year's Day at Swansea! All the best, Tom Sayer

MARTIN SAYS: Well, as I'm sure you know, Swansea's Wayne Routledge extended that run to 17 goals on Tuesday afternoon before Andreas Weimann ended it by finally scoring for Aston Villa. I can confirm that only two sides in Premier League history have ever conceded more consecutive goals without scoring at least one in return.

One of those teams was Wigan Athletic with a run that stretched across the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons - and like Aston Villa it included an 8-0 defeat at Chelsea! That result came on the last day of the 2009/10 season and they lost their first game of the next season 4-0 to Blackpool before facing Chelsea again and losing 6-0! Their 18-goal run ended when they finally netted themselves against Tottenham through Hugo Rodallega.

However, even that run pales into insignificance next to Ipswich Town, who conceded an astonishing 27 goals without reply across eight games in 1994/95. They lost 2-0 to Newcastle before famously losing 9-0 at Manchester United. That was followed by a 3-0 loss to Tottenham, a 3-0 loss to Norwich, a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa, a 4-0 loss at Leeds, and a 1-0 home defeat to QPR. They went to Arsenal and conceded four more goals before Ian Marshall finally scored for them, albeit just a consolation goal in a 4-1 defeat.

Most goals conceded without reply in the Premier League:

Date of last game

Team

Goals conceded without scoring

April 15, 1995

Ipswich Town

27

August 21, 2010

Wigan Athletic

18

December 8, 2007

Derby County

17

January 1, 2013

Aston Villa

17

September 25, 1999

Sheffield Wednesday

16

That Ipswich Town side and Aston Villa are second on the all-time Premier League list for the most goals conceded in three back-to-back games (Aston Villa conceded 15 to Chelsea, Tottenham and Wigan; while Ipswich conceded the same number to Manchester United Tottenham and Norwich). However, the Wigan team referred to above hold that particular record after conceding 18 goals in three games to Chelsea (twice) and Blackpool.

It could arguably have been worse for Aston Villa, as Chelsea missed a penalty and Tottenham and Wigan had further chances to score, but I am looking forward to commentating on them at Bradford in the Capital One Cup semi-final next week to see how they cope with being overwhelming favourites.

TWO IN FIVEHi Martin. Edin Dzeko became the fourth player in Premier League history to score twice in the opening five minutes of a game. Who were the other three players to achieve this feat and who did they score against. Also did any of these players go on to complete a hat trick? Thanks, Nathan Roberts

MARTIN SAYS: Thanks to a bit of help from Opta, I can tell you that the other three players to score twice in the opening five minutes of a Premier League game are:

RYAN GIGGS (for Manchester United v Southampton, 18/11/95)

The first man to score twice in the first five minutes of a Premier League game was Ryan Giggs. He registered in the first and third minutes of a 4-1 win over Southampton at Old Trafford, but he did not go on to score a hat-trick. However, he is the quickest brace-scorer in Premier League history.

DUNCAN FERGUSON (for Newcastle v Southampton, 16/01/00)

Duncan Ferguson also scored twice in the first five minutes, and yet again Southampton were on the receiving end. He scored in the third and fourth minutes, but did not complete his hat-trick even though Newcastle ended up winning 5-0.

MARCUS BENT (for Ipswich v Charlton, 01/01/02)

Dzeko was the first player to achieve the feat since Marcus Bent 11 years earlier. The Ipswich striker scored in the first and fifth minutes to give his team a 2-0 lead at Charlton, but they ended up losing the match 3-2, so obviously he did not complete a hat-trick.

In my opinion, Dzeko should get credited with the hat-trick against Norwich even though his third goal bounced in off the goalkeeper after hitting the post. There have been precedents (Michael Ballack was credited with a free-kick against Everton when it bounced off the goalkeeper) and if a player takes a penalty and it hits the post and goes in off the keeper it is never recorded as an own goal. Also, if that occurs in a penalty-shoot-out the goal is awarded because it is counted as one movement. So I feel Dzeko SHOULD be awarded a hat-trick - but we await the ruling of the dubious goals panel.

GOALS AT BOTH ENDSEverton have now scored and conceded in each of their last 15 league games and 16 games in all. What is the most amount of games a team has gone in a season without failing to score or keep a clean sheet? Nikki Mills

MARTIN SAYS: Following the 2-1 win at Newcastle, Everton have both scored and conceded in 18 of their 21 Premier League games this season. They kept a clean sheet at home to Manchester United and away at Swansea and they failed to score at West Brom, but otherwise there have been no shutouts at either end in any Everton Premier League games this term. There have been goals at both ends in 85% of their games and if that continues until the end of the season they would reach 32 games - and that WOULD be a new record for the number of games in which a team has both scored and conceded.

The record currently stands at 29 games. Back in 1994/95, Southampton scored and conceded in 29 of their 42 games, while Swindon Town achieved the same feat a year earlier. However, if you're looking for the record in a 38-game season that is held by the Norwich City team of last term. There were goals at both ends in 28 of their 38 games in 2011/12.

Most games in a Premier League season with goals at both ends:

Team

PL season

Games scored/conceded in

Southampton

1995

29

Swindon

1994

29

Norwich

1994

28

QPR

1994

28

Tottenham

1995

28

Norwich*

2012

27

Sheffield Wednesday

1993

27

West Brom*

2011

27

*38-game seasons

CHAMPIONS CONCEDINGHappy New Year, Martin and the Opta guys. One of my many New Year's resolutions this year is that I will not just read your column every week and praise them quietly but also try to contribute as much (hopefully, with quality). So here's my first ever (bunch of) question(s) to you. Manchester United got only three clean sheets in the first half of this season and then two in as many games of the second half. Can you please tell: 1) What is the lowest number of clean sheets for EPL champions in either halves of the winning season? 2) What is the highest number of clean sheets for EPL champions in either halves of the winning season? Aazar (Manchester United fan)

MARTIN SAYS: And Happy New Year to you and thank you for the kind comments! We've detailed the clean sheet record for all Premier League champions for you in the table below and we can confirm that IF Manchester United finish the season as champions, they will do so with the lowest number of clean sheets in half of a Premier League season, They picked up just three in their first 19 games (against West Ham, Newcastle and Wigan) and no side has previously won the league with so few shut-outs in either their first or last 19 games.

The previous low is the five clean sheets achieved by Blackburn Rovers (in the last 21 games of 1994/95), Manchester United (in the first 19 games of 1995/96 and 1999/00) and Arsenal (the first 19 games of 2001/02).

The MOST clean sheets in half a season is 13, which has been achieved three times in Premier League history by Manchester United (in the second half of 1995/96 and the first half of 2008/09) and Chelsea (in the first 19 games of 2004/05).

Manchester United now have five clean sheets following the Christmas and New Year games, but the all-time low for a title-winning team is the 12 clean sheets kept by the Red Devils in 1999/2000.

Clean sheets kept by Premier League champions in each season

Season

Champions

Clean sheets (first half of season)

Clean sheets (second half of season)

1993

Man United

10

8

1994

Man United

8

9

1995

Blackburn

11

5

1996

Man United

5

13

1997

Man United

8

7

1998

Arsenal

7

12

1999

Man United

6

7

2000

Man United

5

7

2001

Man United

10

7

2002

Arsenal

5

9

2003

Man United

6

7

2004

Arsenal

8

7

2005

Chelsea

13

12

2006

Chelsea

12

8

2007

Man United

9

7

2008

Man United

11

10

2009

Man United

13

11

2010

Chelsea

10

8

2011

Man United

8

7

2012

Man City

7

10

SCORING, BUT LOSINGDear Martin. Newcastle scored three goals against Manchester United and three goals against Arsenal and lost both games. Has a team ever scored six goals in two games and lost them both before now? Thanks, Jinty (Fulham fan)

MARTIN SAYS: Thanks to our friends at Opta I can confirm that Newcastle have become the first team to score three goals in two successive Premier League games and ended up losing them both.

However, they are not the first team to score six goals in two consecutive games and end up on the losing side both times. That honour belongs to Tottenham Hotspur, who scored twice against Charlton on November 6, 2004 and still ended up losing 3-2 - and in the very next game they scored four times against Arsenal and famously were on the end of a 5-4 defeat.

Opta have also told us of two further teams who scored FIVE goals in back-to-back Premier League games and lost both. Sheffield Wednesday opened the 1994/95 season with a 4-3 home defeat to Tottenham and followed it up with a 3-2 loss at QPR. Plus Coventry City lost 4-3 to Leeds in September 1999 and lost their next game 3-2 to Tottenham.

Comments (3)

Matt Watson (Liverpool fan) says...

Hi Martin, just wondering if Luis Suarez is the most prolific South American attacker to play in the Premier League era, in terms of goals to games ratio.

Posted 20:08 3rd January 2013

Tommy Walton (Leeds United fan) says...

Hi Martin and Opta Guys
Great Column and keep it up, I'm a big stats man so I love it
My Question is a simple but tricky one. I want to know since the premier league started who holds the record for been the most times unused substitute over their career. I would imagine it to be a sub keeper. Also what is the record for the most consecutive times to be an unused substitute
Happy New Year, TomMy

Posted 19:05 3rd January 2013

Joe Mcparland (Everton fan) says...

Hi Martin, great column. By my reckoning, in 16 out of Evertons last 17 games the team that has scored first has failed to win the game. The exception being the 2-1 victory over Wigan on Boxing Day. Is this some sort of record?